Person:William Gregg (6)

About William Gregg

William Gregg was born about 1648 in Co. Antrim, Ireland. He emigrated in 1682.11 After the restoration of Charles II, rigorous laws restraining Quakers induced William Penn to emigrate to America. Gregg and his family went in the first wave of 1682, probably aboard the "Caledonia." He lived from "Strand Millas" between 1683 and 1687 in Christiana Hundred, New Castle Co., Delaware.12 He initially received a grant of 200 acres in the upper part of the Hundred from Rockland Manor (a principal manor of William Penn). Two years later (in 1684) he received a warrant for an additional 400 acres, on which he built a log cabin at a site he called Strand Millas. It adjoined the lands of Matthias Defosse on Squirrel Creek. This is in the vicinity of the upper reaches of Winterthur estate and Center Meeting Road. Initially his family were involved with the Newark Quaker Meeting, on the property of Vallentine Hollingsworth, east of Brandywine Creek, but in 1687, Gregg and his neighbors were given permission to start their own meeting, to become Centre Meeting, on the west side "by reason of the dangerousness of ye ford." He died 1 7mo 1687 Old Style in "Strand Millas," Christiana Hundred, New Castle Co., Delaware. He was a Quaker in Waterford, Antrim Co., Ireland.13 GREGG was apparently among those converted by William Penn when he visited Waterford in 1678. He was married to Ann WILKINSON.

1.   William Gregg, in WikiTree.

   William Gregg born circa 1642, Glenarm Barony, Antrim, Antrim, Ireland; md. abt 1666, Ardmore, Waterford, Ireland, Ann Wilkinson (1644-1692); d. 1 Jul 1687, Strand Mills, near Centerville, Christiana Hundred, New Castle, DE. According to Kendall, he and his family were converted to the Society of Friends (Quakers) after the visit to Waterford by William Penn. in 1678. Immigrated to American in 1682, perhaps on the ship "Caledonia," settling in 1685 on 400 acre "Rockland Manor" Christiana Hundred, New Castle, DE. His land was on the West side of Brandywine Creek at the Pennsylvania border near the modern town of Centerville. He built his log cabin on a place he calledStrand Millas. He was the founder of the Center Monthly Meeting, in 1787. He died relatively young at about the age of 45.

2.   Hinshaw, William Wade; Thomas Worth Marshall; and John Cox. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. (Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States: Edwards Brothers, 1936-1950)
   Vol. 6.
3.   Myers, Albert Cook. Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750, with Their Early History in Ireland. (Swarthmore, Penn.: The Author, 1902)
   Pages 319, 320.

   William Dixon and Isabelle Rea, both of Parish of Sego, County Armagh, Ireland, were married at the house of Roger Webb, Parish of Sego, May 4, 1683. Among those who signed the marriage certificate were Henry Dixson, Rose Dixson, Thomas Harlan, and Isabelle Logan. – Marriage Book of Lurgan Mo. Mtg., Ireland.
   
   This, no doubt, is the same family that came over to New Castle Co., prior to 1690. Henry Dixson, it is said, kept an inn at New Castle and had three children: 1. William was married about 1690 to Ann Gregg, daughter of William Gregg (1st ), who, it is believed, also came from the north of Ireland. William was a weaver by trade and settled on Red Clay Creek, in Christiana Hundred, New Castle County. He made his will January 31, 1708, and it was probated September 20, 1708. He mentions his wife Ann, and appoints his brothers, Michael Harlan and John Gregg, as advisors. The widow, Ann Dixson, then married John Houghton, of New Castle County. 2. Dinah married Michael Harlan, January 1690, at Newark, Mtg. 3. Rose married in 1690, Thomas Pierson, widower, Deputy Surveyer of New Castle County. (See account of Thomas Pierson by the writer in Penna. Mag., XXI., 506-7.)(2nd )
   
   (1st )William Gregg settled on a tract of 400 acres of land in Christiana Hundred, New Castle County, surveyed to him March 11, 1685. He died “ye 1st of ye 7th month and was buried on his own plantation 1687.” Children: Richard; Ann; John, b. circa 1668, d. 1738, m. November 1694, to Elizabeth Cooke [John Gregg, of Christiana Hundred, New Castle County, yeoman, aged about 67 years, made a deposition about 1735, “that he has dwelt in the said County about 51 years” (No. 175, Penna.)]; George. It is presumed by the writer that William Gregg came from the north of Ireland with the Hollingsworths, Dixsons, Sharplys; but no doubt the point could be fully proven if a diligent investigation were made in Ireland.
   
   One William Gregg, of Toberhead Mtg., and Ann Wilkinson, of Antrim Mtg., County Antrim, were married at Antrim November 5, 1702; and George Gregg, of Toberhead Mtg. and Alice Richardson, of Ballyhagen Mtg., were married August, 12, 1714, at Ballyhagen, - Minutes of Ulster Province Mtg.
   
   William Edmundson attended a meeting, in 1700, at the house of Thomas Gregg, at Toberhead, County Antrim. – Journal, 223.
   
   (2nd )See “Gregg-Dixon-Houghton, of New Castle County, Delaware” in Historical and Genealogical Department of the Literary Era (A. D. 1898) Vol. V., p. 331. (Library of Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia).

4.   Kendall, Hazel May Middleton. The descendants of William Gregg, the Friend immigrant to Delaware, 1682: from which nucleus disseminated nests of Greggs to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. (Anderson, Indiana: H.M.M. Kendall, 1944).

   William Gregg lived on "Strand Millas" between 1683 and 1687.
   In the book "Quaker Greggs" Kendall states, his neighbors were Matthias Defosse, Henry, and Thomas Hollingsworth, Thomas Woolasten, George Hogg, William Hoge, John Hussy and William Dixon.
   
   CHILDREN:
   
   1. John Gregg Born: 1668, Ardmore, County Waterford, Ireland. Died: 27 Apr 1738, Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware. Married: Elizabeth Cooke, (born 1672, Darby, Delaware, Pennsylvania and died 1738, Concord, Chester, Pennsylvania.) Marriage: 11 Nov 1694, Concord, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
   
   2. Ann Gregg Born: 1670, Ardmore, County Waterford, Ireland. Died: 1729, New Castle, Delaware. Married 1: William Dixon, (born 1662, Ireland, Sego, Armaugh, Ireland and died: 1708, Christiana Hundred, New Castle, Delaware.) Marriage 1: ca. 1690, New Castle County, Delaware. Married 2: John Houghton, (marriage: after 1708, New Castle County, Delaware.)
   
   3. George Gregg Born: 1674, Ardmore, County Waterford, Ireland. Died: 14 Sept 1744, New Castle, New Castle, Delaware. Married: Sarah Hogg (aka Hoeg), (born 1694, New Castle, Delaware and died 1769.) Marriage: 6 Feb 1706, Allen, Chester, Pennsylvania.
   
   4. Richard Gregg Born: 1676, Ardmore, Waterford County, Ireland. Died: 1716-1719, Strand Millas, Christiana Hundred, Newcastle County, Delaware.